Seven Christians, including two pastors, have applied for bail in a court in a northern Indian state after they were arrested, accused of violating a sweeping anti-conversion law. “We applied for their bail at a local court in Sitapur in nor-thern Uttar Pradesh on Dec. 16,” said an activist extending legal help to the arrested Chri-stians. “Hopefully, they will get bail soon,” added the activist, who did not want to be named due to security reasons. Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested the Christians on Dec. 13 for allegedly violating the state’s anti-conversion law, which criminalizes conversion using force, coercion, undue influ-ence, or allurement.
The state government, run by the Bhartiya Janta Party, amended the law in 2024, allowing anyone to complain about a violation. Earlier, only a victim of conversion or close relatives could complain. Cha-kresh Mishra, superintendent of police in Sitapur, told the local media the police acted on the complaint and seized two mobile phones and religious books from the arrested people. Local media reports also accused Christians of luring local people with job offers and monetary benefits while they assembled in a house in Katsa-riya village for a prayer meet-ing. The reports said members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) alerted the police, and its member Abhishek Kumar complained to the police that Christians were making dero-gatory remarks against Hindu deities.